The clothing, textile and fabric industry have a very early origin. In the manufacturing of materials and products, the manipulation of the fabric is a constant need. The use of sewing needles also has early origins and is a common tool in the manufacturing of clothing and the like from fabrics. The industrial revolution resulted in the mechanization of manufacturing with inventions such as the waterwheel, steam-engine, sewing machines assembly lines and the like.
The loom allows for complex patterns to be obtained. One example is the draw loom which allows a weaving pattern using treadles, or other mechanisms, where the needles are raised and lowered to open the shed in the warp threads. Runners were lifted in turn during the operation of this loom. Automated looms were originally controlled by cards with punched holes where each row in the card represented one row in the ultimate pattern design. Powered looms increased production and originally used steam or water wheels or power generators. In and after the initial manufacturing, there is a need to move and manipulate the fabric without damaging the fabric and with reduced “bunching” or “folding” of the fabric. For example, large sheets of fabric can be cut using cutting tables such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,644,156 where there is a supporting surface mounted on a frame, a cutter, and light emitting devices used to allow for quick alignment of the fabric. The fabric is manually aligned on the table using the light emitting devices. U.S. Pat. No. 3,524,373 also shows a cutting table where the fabric is on a fabric supply roll and fabric is passed downward onto the table for cutting the fabric. The ability to quickly and efficiently manipulate the sheets of fabric is necessary for fabric processing such as cutting. One example of an attempt to improve on the fabric manipulation is U.S. Pat. No. 7,735,153 which discloses glove with grip areas which facilitates the manipulation of sewing implements and fabrics.
Another need of fabric manipulation is during the operating of fabric manufacturing and processing machines such as the sewing machine.
Taking the sewing machine as an example, the majority of sewing machines use a drop feed method that includes use of a mechanism that includes an upper assembly having presser foot and needle that are disposed above the material sewn and the lower assemble which includes a throat plate and feed dogs. When the needle is withdrawn from the material, the feed dogs are pushed upward through slots in the throat plate and moved horizontally past the needle. The presser foot keeps the material in contact with the feed dogs and the horizontal motion causes the material to advance. The feed dogs are then lowered under the throat plate while the needle makes another pass through the material. This prevents the material from travelling while the needle is in the material.
Feed dogs conventionally include metal serrated teeth-like ridges that emerge from the throat plate of a sewing machine. Feed dogs gently grip underneath the fabric, coaxing it to move away from the needle as stitches are sewn. In some configurations, the presser foot includes upper feed dogs to move the upper layer of fabric at the same rate as the lower feed dogs advance the lower layer.
One variation of the drop feed method is when there are two independent sets of feed dogs. The first set is located before the needle and a second set is located after the needle. By changing their relative motions (and therefore the tension on the material), the two sets of feed dogs can cooperate to stretch or compress the material in the vicinity of the needle. This is extremely useful when sewing stretchy material, and when using the over lock stitch, a stitch used for stretchy materials.
While most sewing is done with the feed dogs up, darning and freehand quilting are performed with the feed dogs either down or covered. Putting feed dogs in the down position eliminates the machine's grip on the underside of the fabric, placing the quilter in full control of the movement of fabric. The feed dogs are important to make sure that with the stitching process, the fabric is advanced properly so as not to properly space the stitching and cause the fabric to bunch.
When the feeds dogs do not properly advance the fabric, they quit pulling the fabric through the presser foot area. This problem is magnified with thin or slippery material. Feed dogs that do not properly advance the fabric can cause the operator to wrestle with the fabric rather than have the sewing machine process pull the material through the presser foot with the proper tension. Without the proper tension, a mismatch between the end of the seam can be created with more material leftover on one side than the other. This can be a serious error resulting in undesirable seams when working with such material as nylon or silk and the like. Another problem occurs when the sewing dogs do not advance the fabric, is that slippage occurs and the sewing dog can abrade and damage the fabric.
In some sewing machine models, a walking foot is used in place of the presser foot. A walking foot moves along with lower feed dogs, so that as the walking foot moves, it shifts the upper part of the material (or upper layer of material) with it. This method is typically used when the conventional drop feed method causes the lower layers to shift out of position with the upper layers.
When sewing, the tension of the presser foot or walking foot against the throat plate and lower feed dogs is important and is determined by the thickness and composition of the fabric, the number of layers being sewn and the physical properties of the material (e.g. slipperiness). When the adjustment to the sewing machine is improperly made, the seam created is undesirable resulting in wasted material. Furthermore, when the feeds dogs are worn, the material is not properly advanced which also creates an undesirable seam and waste.
In the sewing process, and other fabric manipulation processes, the operator, whether for the household or for commercial application, must handle material in an efficient manner. In sewing machines, and other machines, the material can be advanced by the machine itself; the material that is in front of and behind the machine has to be fed and managed by the operator to prevent errors. It would be advantageous to have gloves or other assistance to manage and handle such fabric.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide for a surface that can manipulate an article without damaging or bunching of the article, especially when the article is a fabric.
It is an object of the present invention to provide for a glove that can be used to manipulate fabric material without damaging or bunching of the fabric.
It is an object of the present invention to provide for a contact surface that can be used to manipulate an article to improve gripping and handling properties.